Shaun Goater has stepped down as coach of Premier Division side North Village Rams.

The former England professional footballer had been with his boyhood club for four years, taking over from Elliott Jennings in December, 2008 and leading the club to seven trophies during his tenure, including the league, three Friendship titles, Charity Cup and two Dudley Eve titles.

However, the former Bermuda international opted not to renew his contract with Village when it expired on December 31.

The club, well aware of Goaters intentions to seek opportunities back in England, had a transition plan in place since before the beginning of the season and have appointed veteran player Ralph Bean Jr as the new senior coach.

Bean becomes the latest North Village coach to progress through their junior ranks, having also captained the senior team. This year he was Goaters assistant coach and has also coached in the clubs youth programme.

North Village president Shervin Dill yesterday described Goaters departure as amicable and thanked the former Manchester City star for the valuable contribution he had made to the club as coach.

Shaun Goater has been an ambassador for the North Village Community Club both on and off the field, said Dill.

As one of our most successful coaches, the club has won seven trophies during his tenure as the Premier Division senior coach. He has brought a level of professionalism to the club that will greatly assist us as we move forward.

Shaun Goater has been a role model in his career and has achievements as both a footballer and coach of which all Bermuda can be proud. The North Village Community Club takes this opportunity to wish him and his family all the best in his future career and endeavours.

Despite losing several key players this season, Village have remained competitive and reached the Dudley Eve final in which they lost to Somerset.

Shaun has always had aspirations to move on to the UK and further his career and this helps to give him the timeframe to do so, said Dill. It was early indications, actually pre-season, and were thankful for the time he has put in with us. We love Shaun and it was an amicable parting and were both moving forward, North Village and Shaun Goater. Weve been preparing for this, so there was a succession plan in place.

After taking over from Jennings, Goater led Village to a fourth place finish in the league in 2008-09 and won his first trophy with the club as coach in November of that same year when the Rams lifted the Dudley Eve early in the 2009-10 season with victory over PHC in the final.

He finished that season, his first full season in charge, with a second trophy when Village won the Friendship Trophy, which made up for the disappointment of finishing a close second to Dandy Town in the league.

Village did win the league under Goater in 2010-11 and also won three straight Friendship titles, a run which ended this season with defeat to Flanagans Onions.

This season has seen Village missing several key players as the likes of Kofi Dill and Sammy DeGraff have retired.

Dill said he was still confident the club could still have some success this season under the new coach.

We have still set the bar high in terms of our performances this year, we were in the Dudley Eve final and at one stage earlier if we had won against Flanagans we would have been on top of the league, said Dill. Its been an up and down season for us.

We had an exodus of players like Logan Alexander, Jonte Smith and Taurean Manders through professional options, then five players who had college opportunities which we are very thankful for. Then we had the retirement of Kofi, Sammy and Jason Williams, our keeper. We didnt have the luxury of a pool of players like were used to.

Despite his success with Village and his experience as a professional footballer, Goater never got the appointment he wanted most, the post of senior national coach which he applied for along with the Youth Directors post within the Bermuda Football Association.

Instead he will use his contacts in England to further his career, having spent six years back in Bermuda since his retirement.

Im disappointed because it was always a stepping stone for Shaun moving on to the national team, said Dill. I would have been delighted to see him have the national team coach as part of his resume as he moves on to higher levels in the UK.

Shaun came back and made a valuable contribution all around. When he first came back he was coaching our junior team and worked his way up to be the senior team coach. And he still plays today with the Masters team. One of the things he said is hes Village for life. Im sure once we get our clubhouse facility Shaun will be one of the Hall of Famers.

Goater waves goodbye as Village coach

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